Its pretentious to call this a "masterpiece", but simply put, this game ranks with the greatest RPGs of all time.
User Rating: 9.2 | Xenogears: Elyhaym Van Houten Edition (Square Millennium Collection) PS
Of the last twenty years or so RPGs have gone through more changes than, pardon my lewdness, a boy in puberty. What started out as simple and innocent has since become bold, in cases vulgar (I'm looking at you Barret and Cid of FFVII fame...don't think you're escaping my eye Irvine!), and over all more adult. Granted this is the direction necessary for the taking, while some gamers won't want to live out their RPG fascinations with the cute-but-splended world of Paper Mario. New things have grown, such as true character development, better graphics, bigger bosses, more weapons, more enemies and by far larger stories. In this case, Xenogears is by far the most grown up of them all. Outside of the graphics (this review is a little late, but its still fair to review a game you love, so I'm doing it), which are grainy and pixilated at times, the game is 100% superb choice RPG meat. But with that meat also comes a lot of heart. What was lacking in some more recent RPG attempts like Final Fantasy's, oh, XIII- X-2, is the love for the story that you're telling (from the developer's perspective) as well as a love for the story your taking in (from the player's perspective). Sure the stories were good, the characters were decently fleshed out, but in all seriousness where was the ambition? The edge? The desire to show something truly NEW to the gaming world? Unfortunately one game that skirted under most radars in 1997-1998, was Xenogears. A truly mature story, with far stronger characters, a deeper mystery and a fully realized world, was crafted with a fine tip pen, instead of the big magic markers Square had used on its latest endeavors back in the day. So let me draw you up a little diagram of the World of Xenogears as best as I can, for along with being one of the most developed stories in gaming history, its also one of the most complex. Xenogears tells the generations-long tale of a colony planet much like earth (and mixed with its fairy tales) that has been forged by a crash-landed ship of deep space colonists, carrying with them something truly ungodly. As you watch the opening FMV, which will make no sense until far later in the game, you realize man has journeyed into space, and with it so have the consequnces of technology. Flash forward 10,000 years later, onto the planet now brimming with people, villages, cities and kingdoms, and you're in Fei Fong Wong's era. As main character, Fei is the typical, yet very well done, amnesiac fighter who's past has been lost. Living in and protecting the village he loves, he knows not who he truly is or what his purpose in life is to be. Then, as things tend to happen, all goes wrong in the course of one night. Flying overhead in the starry night sky, (the world of Xenogears is beautiful and lacking in airpollution), giant humanoid robots scorch the horizon, and bring hell upon the tiny village. Fei, trying to save his town, hops into an abandoned "gear", the giant robots of the game (bearing no relation to Kojima, of course), and without the skill or know-how of a real pilot, attempts to fight off the enemy invaders. To bring this little chapter (which doesn't conclude for almost 45 minutes itself, just to show how slow paced but wonderfully decorated with twists, secrets, fun battles, and interesting NPC's the game is), to a close, Fei has blown up the village using some hidden power that channled through the Gear. Now, leaving the town of Lahan as an outcast, Fei with his friend Citan and the giant robot Weltall, flee into a forest. Past this point anything I can tell you would potentially be a spoiler, but suffice it to say that there are about six or seven playable characters who join your group, each of which has a deep and involving plot line that helps stretch out this one-hundred-plus hour story, yet keeps it interesting the whole way through. Political conspiracies, evil "shadow" governments, high tech-sci fi action, romance, even some light comedy, all add up to make one of the most epic stories ever told, on or off the big screen, and even in the world of fine literature. Cricton, Benchely, King, hell even Hemmingway would all have to agree that the story, though not written, ranks up to what they have offered with their carreers. Its truly original, will give you a lot of ideas to think on, and will get you to tears, laughs, and focus. I could go on and on, but its best you just pick up the game right now and let it do all the talking. Up to this point you get a taste of the battle sytem, which grows even more exciting as time goes by. The fighting is different, nothing too special, focusing on "combos" that are activated with different button presses. Save up attack points (AP) and you can do even more devastating attacks to your opponents. Save them up long enough, and you can unleash a string of deadly deathblows that will pound the enemy to next Tuesday. Magic Spells included (with beautiful graphic effects). One thing that TRULY moves this out of typical RPG gameplay canon though is the entering of Gears. Once inside a gear, the gameplay shifts from typical combos to more slow paced and powerful gear attacks. The humans are rendered in 2 dimensional pixels, and the gears in 3D. Seeing them both on screen at the same time is an interesting art style, and it works with the enemies as well. The battles are epic, multi tasked, and interesting. Enemies are numerous and various. And the attacks are very, very kick ass. Besides that its similar to a typical FFVII fighting system, but with far more to do and the same level of interesting equipment placement as its cousin series (Square had a hand in Xenogears, but only as publisher). Outside of customizing characters you also have to outfit the gears, so the combinations are increased nearly twofold. To sum up, since going on anymore would lead me to three hours of typing, Xenogears is an amazing achievement in story telling and character design. It also is complimented by a very well construed battle system, fun evironmental puzzles, great (though sometimes a little too large) level design, and an amazing world to trek through. If you love your RPGs with more meat, or are looking for something a bit more grown up than the boobalicious FFX2, hunt this game down. It certainly gives its succesor, the mediocre yet somehow acclaimed Xenosaga, a run for its money.
